Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano’s struggles continued as he went slowest in practice before crashing at Richmond Raceway.

Logano’s pursuit of a fourth NASCAR Cup Series title in the No. 22 Ford has been littered with challenges. The Team Penske star endured a particularly frustrating race in Indianapolis at the Brickyard 400, where a rear flat, complete power loss, and a late crash ruined his hopes of a first career win on the 2.5-mile oval.

Through 24 races in the 2025 NASCAR season, Logano sits 13th in the points standings. Amid his current struggles, the 35-year-old can take solace knowing he is sure of his playoff place after he won at Texas Motor Speedway in the Wurth 400.

However, Logano is enduring a difficult run of form. Ahead of the Cook Out 400 at Richmond, Logano suffered a poor practice as he crashed out while holding the unwanted honor of having the slowest fast lap of the session.

Logano crashed as his right front tire went and he smacked the outside wall. The rest of the grid drove under caution, and his No. 22 was taken to the garage.

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It has hardly been a vintage season for Logano. He has just two top-five and six top-10 finishes, alongside a controversial disqualification in Talladega after finishing second.

Despite the understated season, Logano is confident he can pull a rabbit out of the hat once again and defend his title. Appearing on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Logano said: “We have some catching up to do, even when the playoffs reset, but we also know as long as you’re still in it, you got a chance, right?

“As long as you’re still breathing, there’s an opportunity to win the championship. And I believe in this team so much that we can do that because we’ve done it multiple times. So at that point, you still feel confident in these situations.

“I feel like there’s a lot of positives right now around the 22 from a speed perspective. Dover has notoriously been our worst racetrack, and we were pretty good there. Like we weren’t great, we weren’t going to go up there and win the race, but we can run in the top six to 10. That’s way better than last year.

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“In Indy, we had better speed than we had last year, and we were positioned to win that race if we can just keep air in a tire. When you look at it, zoomed out, and you look at just the results, you’d say, ‘It’s not looking good.’ But if you kind of can look a little bit deeper and seeing some of the positives from within the team, if you’re within the team, you can see some real positives going on right now, to where I feel okay about it.”

There are just two races before the playoffs, so Logano must rediscover his best form if he is to contend. The Cook Out 400 takes place on Sunday, Aug. 17.